


no better way to go, my dearest juliet

by azureforest



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Banter, Established Relationship, M/M, References to Shakespeare, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 16:05:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11085096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azureforest/pseuds/azureforest
Summary: reciting shakespeare between kisses is horribly corny, so they don't.(not really because it's corny, though, but rather because edward can't ever remember the verses to save his life.)





	no better way to go, my dearest juliet

**Author's Note:**

> (damn leo, back at it again with the edleo)
> 
> hi we're reading romeo and juliet in english class and at this point i cant ever consume any piece of media without attempting to project fire emblem on it so here we are. its fucking midnight. im also absolutely convinced edwards a horrible kisser. you'll take my trans edward hc from me when im dead and reduced to dust.
> 
> anyways, no beta as per the usual, any and all paragraphing mistakes and shakespeare bastardisations are mine and mine alone. i had a blast writing this (its a little more dialogue-heavy than what i usually do), so i, hope you enjoy this too in all of its disgusting corniness??? i cant believe i wrote this either. yeah.

“Hey, Leonardo.”

The steady crawl of a pen on paper slowed to a halt as the blond in question stopped writing, lifting his pen and clicking it, once, twice, before letting the tip hover over his homework again. “Yes, Edward?” he asked, barely glancing up as his best friend twirled a highlighter between his fingers, grey eyes glued to the blond’s copy of Romeo and Juliet, with sometimes-dogeared pages covered in neatly scrawled annotations and footnotes.

“Romeo’s kinda stupid.”

A sigh. “We’ve been over this. He’s not necessarily a complete idiot, but he’s definitely a melodramatic, somewhat irrational lovesick fool with a penchant for pretty words.” Edward groaned, putting his book down.

“Leo, this is Shakespeare, _everybody’s_ gonna talk in a way that makes my head hurt just trying to read it.”

Leonardo put his pen down with an audible clack, let out another nearly-unperceivable sigh that was more reflex than actual exasperation. “What part do you want me to help you with-“ A highlighter cap bounced off his knee, and his nose wrinkled. “Ow.” He mumbled, voice flat. Edward would’ve laughed if he weren’t already brain-dead from pretty prose.

“I’m fine right now, I swear. Just _tiiiired_ \- Can’t believe we gotta read this crap ‘til next week-  Mrs. Calill’s cool and all, but this is _crazy_.” Edward grumbled, blinking and staring up at the ceiling, eyes unfocused, before he closed them and groaned. Leonardo threw the highlighter cap back, the toss turning out a bit short and falling short of the brunet’s spot on the bed.

“ _You’re_ the one who put reading off until today.” The blond scolded lightly, with a little hint of a smug _i-told-you-so_. His friend huffed, slamming the book closed and stuck out his tongue, even as Leonardo’s incessant scribbling resumed- Some essay or another that Edward forgot to bother asking about. He’d ask later, he decided, opening the play again and staring at the pages blankly, not absorbing _anything_ he was seeing for the next six minutes.

Apparently, Leonardo noticed the fact that none of the pages were moving and turned around in his swivel chair, the end of his pen resting against his chin. All that was missing was the majestic pet cat- It was too bad that the blond’s cat, Tempest, was elsewhere, though the feline was anything but majestic. “Edward.” He began, an eyebrow raised in concern, but Edward filled in the silence quickly enough.

“Don’cha think Juliet could’ve been happier if Romeo, y’know, didn’t happen to her?”

A pause, as the blond earnestly contemplated it. “At what point?” Another pause, as Edward stared at him in utter confusion. “I mean, she would’ve married Paris if Romeo hadn’t fallen head over heels for her.” He clarified.

Edward frowned. “I don’t like Paris.”

“You don’t like _anyone_ in this play.”

“I like Juliet?”

Leonardo blinked, blinked again. “Really?”

And Edward nodded, then beamed. “Yeah, she reminds me of you!”

The blond spluttered, dropping his pen into his lap, leaving a streak of blue ink on his leg. “Me?” he asked, bewildered, eyebrows almost hiding behind his bangs, a hand fiddling with a stray strand at the side. The almost-stammer was followed up with a little scoff of disbelief. “How, even?”

“Hear me out, hear me out!” Edward yelped. “She’s all- She was this little, meek nice and pretty girl at first, right?” The boy flailed his hands around a little, book forgotten at the head of the bed. Leonardo’s glare worsened, but the brunet easily brushed off the look, long since impervious to the blond’s angry-face and bulldozed on. “But like. She’s snarky and witty and stuff! Told Romeo to his face that his kisses sucked, I think, and I’m pretty sure you’d totally do that to me.”

Leonardo huffed, rolling his eyes. “Your kisses _do_ suck, Ed.” Edward let out an indignant squawk.

 “See? _See?!_ And then she rebelled against her parents like that, even though the Caps hate the Mountain Dews-“

“Montagues.”

“-and like, remember when you, me, Micaiah, Sothe and Tormod got together to make Professor Assface-“

“His name was Izuka, Edward-“

“-to bully Professor Assface and his racist ass right out of school and straight to quitting his job, right?”

Leonardo hissed, stretching out his hands to get Edward to shut up.

“Can it, my parents’ll _kill_ me if they hear it was us.“ Edward just laughed, reached over, punched his arm and nearly toppled from the bed in the process.

“C’mon, it was super awesome when we stole and burned his papers, you model-student rebel, you.”

The blond covered his mouth with a hand, mumbled. “… It _was_ kinda fun, I guess.” The brunet let loose another bark of laughter, reached for his book, thumbed through it aimlessly, before he found his train of thought again.

“And, well, she was still a little sensible, right? Right at the balcony scene, right? Said it was all too fast and stuff. And grew up too fast, too- See, just like you!” Edward beamed, proud of his little analysis as his partner’s frown grew.

“May I remind that you that she immediately proposed to marry right afterwards and died less than a week after that.” Leonardo pointed out flatly, leaning over in an attempt to read Edward’s copy of the play upside-down. The other just shrugged, turned the book so they were both reading it sideways, which was probably even less effective. “I don’t believe that bodes well for the Dawn Brigade’s escapades.”

“Hey, the rest fits.”

The blond grimaced. “That’s not an effective way to characterize someone, Ed.” The brunet dismissed him with a too-light laugh.

“Yeah, whatever, I’m gonna fail Lit anyways.”

“Not on my watch.”

“Sure, my beloved Mr. Shakespeare Buff.” Edward batted his eyelashes in an exaggerated manner, upon which Leonardo sighed, snatched the play out of Edward’s hands, opened to an oft-dogeared page and read aloud, voice soft, rising and falling as if he’d read this passage aloud far too many times before- And knowing him, he probably did.

“ _If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully;_  
Or if thou think’st I am too quickly won,  
I’ll frown and be perverse, and say thee nay,  
So thou wilt woo, (hopefully better than you already are doing, mind you), _but_ _else not for the world._ ”

Blue eyes flitted back to the brunet, who’d scrunched his eyebrows about halfway through and sat back upright, hand in chin- Leonardo frowned, shuffled, clapped the book closed a little too loudly before reaching down to pick up his pen and the nearly-forgotten highlighter cap.

“Look,” the blond sighed, suddenly embarrassed all over again, ears significantly redder than earlier. “I just basically read a declaration of undying love in Shakespearian verse to you and _meant_ it, at least pretend to be a _little_ happier.”

“But,” Edward protested, head jerking to meet Leonardo’s eyes. “That’d mean I’d be Romeo. I’m _so not Romeo_? I don’t _wanna_ be Romeo!”

Leonardo chucked the highlighter cap back at him a second time, the projectile ending up on the sheets next to Edward’s leg, missing by a narrow margin, but they both knew full well that the blond could’ve nailed him in the forehead with it. “Then why’d you make _me_ Juliet?” he asked, almost pouting. The brunet pouted right back.

“Why else do you think I asked if Juliet could’ve been happier if Romeo wasn’t a thing? I’d rather be your-“ He paused, glanced at the other boy’s meticulously-sorted bookshelf and scanned the blond’s hoard of play scripts for titles he at least vaguely remembered from class. “Your… I dunno, your younger, pre-Iago-shitstorm Othello or something.” He paused, thought hard, then nodded, grinning. “Yeah! Othello was cool.”

Leonardo’s eyebrows shot up. “Othello’s a grown man.” He let that sink in for a second or two.

“Y- _ikes_!” Edward grabbed the blond’s pillow and lobbed it at his face, looking a little horrified. “Man, the ‘Juliet’s fourteen’ thing is seriously _screwed_ , the hell was Shakey thinking?” the brunet complained as Leonardo raised his arms to protect himself, letting his pillow bounce off harmlessly.

“But- Like, just the roles- Lemme be your cool sword boyfriend for a sec! A- A _swordnificant other_!”  Pointedly ignoring Leonardo’s groan at the beyond-horrible pun, the boy continued his lament. “Why isn’t there more classical crap with cool warrior knight protagonists?”

The blond spun his pen between his fingers before nearly dropping it and stopping, to avoid messing up. “Well, if my opinon counts, I’m perfectly fine with just you and your bad kissing.”

A little wounded half-wail. “Your opinion always counts and it’s good, except the second one, that’s a bad opinion, take it baaaaack.” The blond smiled, tilting his head, rolling his chair closer to the bed with a push of his foot, before unceremoniously dumping himself on the spot next to Edward, pen still in his grasp, now nothing but useless weight.

“Really though, we don’t have to be anyone but ourselves, really, no use comparing us to protags in a Shakespearian tragedy.” He pointed out, gently, before blue eyes gleamed and Leonardo stuck his tongue out in a rare bout of childishness whilst folding his legs under him. “You’re you, and that's enough- That's why I love you.” He sang. Edward fell backwards onto the mattress, pretending he was shot, clutching at his chest dramatically, the play sliding off the mattress and onto the floor with a quiet thump, the blond’s almost-finished essay forgotten for the moment.

“Man down, _I’m dying_ , cause of death: Leo’s too adorable and gave me a _heart attack_ -“

The blond leaned over, hovering over the brunet, blond hair framing his face against the soft off-white of his bedroom light. “But doth thee die with a kiss upon thine lips?”

Edward grinned at him, face flushed, happy cackles shaking his shoulders even as he propped himself up on his elbows to meet the blond halfway. “Aye, thus with a kiss, I die.”

 

 

 

 

 

“… Haha, your kisses still suck.”

“ _I hate you!_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> as always, i,,, hope you enjoyed this mess, and any and all forms of feedback are greatly appreciated!!


End file.
